


Auspicious Beginnings

by Sylindara



Series: basketballpoetsociety Character Battle 2014 [11]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 11:37:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2580083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylindara/pseuds/Sylindara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In any other future, a street rat lives and dies as a street rat. But in this one, fate intervenes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Auspicious Beginnings

The town of Shuutoku is famous for its street rats. A derogatory term for the hundreds of homeless beggars, thieves, and dealers that live off its streets, every year a new proposition to get rid of them is made and every year it fails. No one knows Shuutoku better than its rats.

Takao, despite his young age, is one such rat. Although there is one aspect in which he differs from the others. But the street rats of Shuutoku come into this world with full knowledge of the importance of secrets. No one but Takao himself knows how unnatural he is, how far the bond between him and his daemon can stretch. Manako can fly as far as five times, even ten times the distance a normal daemon can go from their human. This has saved Takao’s life more than once.

It’s also a great help when he steals. To have Manako stand guard in ways normal daemons can’t accomplish. The trade-off for that is that Manako never seems to turn into anything but a bird. Takao doesn’t know why, but doesn’t care as long as no one notices there’s something wrong with them.

Born on the streets of Shuutoku, he fully expected to die on it too. Until that fateful meeting.

The day started out like any other day. Manako high in the sky as an unobtrusive sparrow while down on the ground Takao wends through the crowd looking for pickpocketing targets. Half of his attention on Manako, Takao cups a hand around his neck in pretence of hiding his daemon there as he smoothly lifts purses from their unsuspecting owners.

He’s almost at the end of the street when Manako picks up on something in an alley not far from him. Pricked by curiosity, Takao peers cautiously into the alley from the street while Manako swoops down onto an overhanging that juts out into the middle of the alley.

Despite the early afternoon light, the walls of the alley sag in from both sides, leaving the whole place in ominous shadow. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything worth catching Manako’s attention. But as Takao eyes adjust to the dimness, he realises that there is a shadow half crouched in a doorway at the end of the alley. It’s a small shadow, not much bigger than he is, which is what gives Takao the courage to move closer.

“Hello,” Takao asks warily, stopping in front of the shadow. As he expected, the shadow is revealed to be the hunched form of a child, around the same age as him perhaps. A rich child, Takao amends in his head, taking in the fancy looking hakama and the very un-Japanese collared shirt. Only the daemon in his arms, in a rather unfortunate-looking frog form, doesn’t look out of place here.

There were different ways Takao could have reacted, different paths the future could have gone down. But in this one, Takao crouches down until their eyes are at the same level, waits for Manako to alight on his shoulder as a robin, and says, “I’m Takao, Takao Kazunari! And this is Manako. What’s your name?”

“Shintarou. And Amazu.”

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding names of daemons: Manako just means ‘eye’ (眼) and Amazu is ‘heaven’ and ‘matter/thing’ (天事) taken from Midorima’s favourite proverb. Also I like the idea of Midorima’s daemon having the name ‘heavenly matters’. Illiterate/uneducated people tend to have daemons with simple names, hence why I chose that for Takao.


End file.
